Modernization discourse with Chinese characteristics

Despite sustained criticism of Western modernization theory since the 1970s, several distinct groups of theorists have sought to renovate it. Further, some of the strongest evidence of the theory's continued vitality comes from discussions of China, the fastest developing contemporary society. A close reading of a diverse group of texts reveals that a lively, creative, and global Chinese modernization discourse has emerged in recent decades. That discourse draws heavily on classical modernization theorists like Max Weber, acknowledges the successors and critics, and often integrates these Western theories with Chinese social and philosophical traditions. This essay maps the Chinese modernization discourse, highlights its relationships with other modernization discourses, and situates it within historical and theoretical contexts.     

Matilda Gage Writes a World History of Women

Suffragist Matilda's Gage's Woman, Church and State, 1893, invites a revisit because it was a pioneering study in world history with woman as its central issue. While labeled an amateur, Gage's work demonstrated an excellent grasp of nineteenth-century historical scholarship and she offered interpretive insights that tied nascent anthropological theory to historical analysis. For these reasons she is best understood in relation to the women scholars of the 1890s and subsequent decades who created a well-researched and scholarly new history of women.     

Book review

Wildavsky, Aaron. Speaking Truth to Power: the art and craft of policy analysis, little, Brown, and Company, Boston and T oronto, 1979, 431 pp. $12.00.     

Women's Micro-Entrepreneurial Homeworking

Enabled by the global distribution affordances of the Internet, increasing numbers of creative producers of the handmade—the majority of whom are women—are working from home as sole traders. Selling their wares via online marketplaces such as Etsy, such women often do so as a means by which to balance caring responsibilities with paid employment. In this article I argue that rather than seeing the exponential growth of an online craft economy as a ‘back to the future’ moment for the status of women, these business practices are best seen as part of the process of the folding of the economy into society, a process which Lisa Adkins has located as positioning the home as an increasingly productive space for both men and women.     

The implementation of case formulation by probation officers: service user and carer views

Background: The recent UK Government strategy on high-risk offenders with personality disorders (PD) proposes improved identification of this group, assessment of their treatment needs through case formulation (CF) and the subsequent provision of treatment pathways. Little is known about service user and carer views on this strategy. Aims/Hypotheses: This study sought to identify the views of personality-disordered (PD) offenders and carers on the proposed role of Probation staff in CF. Methods: Three focus groups were carried out, two with service users and one with carers, with a total of 10 participants overall. Results: Five themes emerged: ‘power’, ‘conflicting roles’, ‘trust’, ‘building a relationship through consistency of care’ and ‘hope and possibility’. Conclusions/Practical implications: Offenders and carers were sceptical regarding the proposed role of Offender Manager (OMs) in CF and this could pose a potential barrier to the successful implementation of the strategy.